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ATLANTA — Ask Cartoon Network executive Chris Waldron how kids want to interact with their TV, and he's got a quick answer: by watching and playing games at the same time.

In late 2012, Waldron took a chance on his hunch by releasing a groundbreaking, updated Cartoon Network app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, which let kids watch TV clips and play games.

On the smaller devices, you can flip between watching video and playing. On the iPad, you can use the split screen to watch and play at the same time.

The result: "millions and millions of downloads," says Waldron, Cartoon's vice-president of digital. "It was much bigger than we anticipated."

As Waldron looks into a future in which his audience — primarily, boys ages 6 to 11 — are growing up spending more time on digital devices, he's looking at more ways to keep them engaged:

— Gaming. Most of the six games on the Cartoon app are based on TV shows, notably, the network's popular Adventure Time. In a twist this year, Waldron plans to go the other way. He's going to use the massive audience built up for Cartoon games to introduce new animated characters, see which ones click, and look to build shows around them. "Let's start it as a game, and build it to be even bigger," he says.

— The app. Cartoon offers clips from more than 50 TV shows. It will add more shows and features this year. The watch-and-play feature isn't expected until next year for the network's Android app.

Cartoon doesn't break out specific usage on its app, but in 2012, 1.3 billion games were played on CartoonNetwork.com and mobile, and it has amassed 412 million views of clips and shows. Mobile usage for Cartoon grew 24% in 2012.

On TV, Cartoon is the No. 5 basic cable network for total viewers, reaching 1.2 million people per day in January, according to Nielsen. But online, its audience is huge. It's the second-most-liked TV network on Facebook, with 16.5 million likes. (MTV is tops, with 41.7 million.) Its online audience dwarfs others in the Turner Broadcasting empire (CNN gets 4.4 million likes; TBS, 200,000.) Its website averages 16 million unique visitors monthly.

The online response, all the more impressive, considering that Facebook targets the over-13 crowd, "shows how passionate the fans are," says Waldron. "They want to interact with the content all the time; they want to talk about it. They feel they have a direct line with us."

The trend in homes is that folks are spending more time with their digital devices, which has the potential to cut into TV viewing. (A recent study by Nielsen said that, while watching TV, 40% of homes have at least one device in operation by adults 18 and older at least once a day.)

Cartoon dealt with this by enabling live viewing of its channel on tablets for registered cable subscribers.

James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research and author of Digital Disruption: Unleashing the Next Wave of Innovation, says Cartoon's app is a great way to combat declining TV ratings.

"If they start getting massive views for their shows on the iPad, they can start pressuring Nielsen to count iPad views in the TV ratings. It's a smart bet for the future," McQuivey says.

From where he sits, Waldron sees TVs remaining prominently in the picture. As he looks into the future living room — say, circa 2018 — kids are still sitting with their tablets, and the TV is still on. "There are a lot of people doing both at the same time now, but there will be more of that. TV manufacturers are introducing apps into their TVs, and that world where you seamlessly move back and forth between interactivity and watching TV will only increase."

The bottom line: "If I were a kid, I'd be blown away right now," he says. "The difference between just having shows on Saturday morning, vs. being able to watch these cartoons whenever you want is amazing."